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This chapter examines the biblical sacrificial process, including purity rites, as recorded especially in the priestly tradition and the Holiness Code. It argues against placing the priestly traditions in a linear chronological relationship, as done by Julius Wellhausen and Yehezkel Kaufmann. It proposes a new symbolic understanding of both purity and sacrifice. Sacrifice can be understood as an act of imitatio Dei, with the goal of attracting the Divine Presence into the tabernacle.

This chapter considers the case of Yehezkel Kaufmann, often referred to as “the greatest and most influential Jewish biblical scholar of modern times.” He understood the Bible as a historical artifact produced in a particular setting of time and place. For him, the Bible was a text to be examined by means of the general principles and analytical tools of empirical investigation. Kaufmann has no doubt about discussing the history of the formation and transmission of biblical literature. The chapter presents two perspectives of reading Kaufmann's Toledot ha'emunah hayisre'elit (A History of the Israelite Faith). First, it is a classic that has shaped contemporary Jewish biblical scholarship; and second, it still has relevance for today's biblical and religious studies-especially for phenomenological analyses of biblical monotheism.

This chapter reconsiders the biblical prophets’ attitude toward sacrifice, rejecting the radical contrast between priest and prophet as articulated by Max Weber, Wellhausen, and Kaufmann. It reviews various prophetic texts, including especially Amos, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. It suggests that the prophets’ symbolic actions are analogous to rituals, and argues that the prophets’ ostensible rejection of sacrifice is based in part on their belief that many sacrifices were being offered by those whose property was unduly earned, being proceeds from the exploitation of the poor.

This chapter focuses on Moshe Greenberg, who modeled himself after Yehezkel Kaufmann and elevated biblical discussion above ecclesiastical dogma into the realm of the eternally significant ideas. Greenberg appreciated Kaufmann's role as a Jewish nationalist who emphasized the crucial nature of Jewish religion as defining Jewish ethnicity. He often writes from the double perspective of a university biblical scholar and a practicing Jew—unafraid to speak of God as a contemporary deity. Greenberg's model for how the Hebrew Bible should be read in a Jewish and critical context has influenced both Jewish and non-Jewish scholars. Despite some misgivings, Greenberg's model is compelling, arguing strongly for an image of the Bible as Scripture within Judaism.